Cool Old Reference Material from 1891

[reeltackle]

I found this on Google Books and thought I would share it with the group.

I find it interesting what the Wildwood came up with as far as Tackle Makers, some are obviously retailers but I believe this was a Herculean effort for 1891.

Lots of great info and some interesting ads. I wish there was one of these for every year! Valiant effort Willie Wildwood, I salute you.

ENJOY!

https://books.google.com/books?id=5UI9A ... 22&f=false

[wrong99]

What a treasure-trove. It seems almost impossible that could have been compiled in the 1890's. Thanks Ed.
Mark

[Alan Baracco]

Guys,

Indeed this is great information to have, and it is just a sample of what is out there.

This particular "Sportsman's Directory" featured Will Wildwood (AKA Fred E. Pond, whose picture appears on the frontispiece). We owe a debt of gratitude to a Mr. Daniel B. Fearing, alum of Harvard for putting these and many other works into the Harvard Library, hence digitized by Google.

But Google isn't the only entity by far that is preserving these items, and a more comprehensive catalog can be found on HathiTrust.org, a digital library with literally millions of entries. Powerful way to find information, just the other day I found a Kiffe catalog (see Dr. Todd's article in the 2010 REEL NEWS). and I am currently trolling "Hardware Dealer" magazine (1894 to 1929) for fishing tackle items, just starting a series of articles in RN I hope you find interesting. I need some help with this from a NYC member, see my recent post.

The New York Public Library is the "mother of all good stuff" when it comes to what they have in their collections, some digitized but many more not. My wife is grateful we don't live in NYC, I would have a permanent encampment on the library steps!!

Keep looking and see some truly awesome things, and some just fun trivia, like A.F. Meisselbach & Bro producing a can opener in 1895!

Alan

[Don Champion]

NEAT!

[Steve]

Tackle Makers

Many tackle "retailers" made something that qualified as tackle, e.g., flies, snelled hooks. That's how they qualified as makers.